1 UK pips France to fifth place in GDP (Peter Walker
in The Guardian) There’s good news and bad news for the UK in the latest league
tables of global economies drawn up by a leading economic consultancy. It put
the UK ahead of France as the world’s fifth biggest economy. On the downside,
this appears to be mainly because Britain now includes earnings from drugs and
prostitution in its GDP figures, which France as yet does not.
The 2014 economic league table by London-based Cebr
Global also concedes that in reality France might still be bigger, given the
relatively tiny margins involved. The UK economy is estimated to be worth
$2,828bn (£1,818bn) in total, a mere £1bn bigger than the French.
In June, the UK economy received a statistical boost
of £65bn after earnings from drugs and the sex trade were included for the
first time, under new EU rules. While it pushed up GDP by almost 5%, economists
stressed it was a mere accounting measure and should not be taken as a sign of
increased economic vitality. France has yet to take this step.
Among the losers in this year’s table is Russia,
which dropped from eighth to 10th thanks to a weak rouble and low oil price.
One oddity of this is that it pushes Italy, hardly undergoing an economic
purple patch at the moment, up a place to eighth. Among the big hitters, the US
remains the world’s largest economy by some distance – it is said to be worth
$17,528bn, compared with China’s $10,028bn – and Cebr Global predicts the pair
will swap places in 2025.
2 Hackers hit Xbox, PlayStation (BBC) Xbox and
PlayStation online services have been suffering technical problems, amid claims
a hacking group has disabled their services. Microsoft and Sony - the companies
which make the games consoles - have told customers they are aware of issues
affecting their online services.
A hacking group called Lizard Squad is claiming to
have caused the problems. PlayStation's official Twitter account posted:
"We are still looking into the PSN (PlayStation Network) issues reported
earlier. Thanks again for your continued patience today." A message on
Xbox's website says: "Hi Xbox members. Are you having a rough time signing
in to Xbox Live? We're working to get this figured out right away.
3 Fuel price plunge threatens electric cars (David R
Baker in San Francisco Chronicle) For once, automakers have reason to fear
cheap gasoline. High gas prices during the last decade drove interest in
electric cars and fuel-cell vehicles, as did concern about global warming. But
now gasoline prices have plunged to their lowest level since the Great
Recession, averaging $2.50 nationwide for a gallon of regular. If gas prices
stay low — granted, a very big “if” — one of the most powerful arguments for
alternative-fuel cars will be wiped out.
The price plunge that started in July is still so
new that it’s hard to see a direct impact on plug-in car sales. The Nissan
Leaf, the world’s most popular electric, just scored its 22nd straight month of
year-over-year growth, with 2,687 cars sold in the US in November. The Chevy
Volt, an advanced plug-in hybrid, isn’t selling as well as it did last year,
but that was true in the spring, before gasoline prices started to tumble.
The drop comes as automakers roll out a number of
new alternative-fuel vehicles. Toyota just launched its long-planned fuel-cell
car, the Mirai, which runs on hydrogen rather than gas. Hyundai started leasing
a fuel-cell vehicle in California this year, while Honda plans to introduce its
own in early 2016. Tesla Motors, meanwhile, will launch its electric
SUV-crossover, the Model X, midway through 2015 — arguably a make-or-break
moment for the Palo Alto company.
Tesla doesn’t release month-by-month sales figures.
But worldwide deliveries of the company’s electric Model S sedan set a record
of 7,785 in this year’s third quarter.
But low gasoline prices could pose a bigger problem
for Toyota and the Mirai. The car, whose name means “future” in Japanese, uses
a technology that’s alien to most car buyers. Its fuel cells generate
electricity through a chemical reaction between hydrogen and oxygen, yielding
no exhaust other than water vapor. Toyota will need to educate consumers on the
benefits of fuel cells — zero emissions, quick fill-ups — at a time when
gasoline prices are low and conventional cars are getting better mileage than
ever.
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